


Sure Rocks and Hard Places

by TessMooreXF



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 04:45:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/618217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TessMooreXF/pseuds/TessMooreXF
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now, caught between the surest of rocks and hardest of places, it seemed woefully inappropriate to make up for lost time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sure Rocks and Hard Places

"I Know." He said it over dinner. It wasn't  
an apology, but it was a start. His eyes  
glimmered a mossy green in the dim light of  
the dining room. It was a cheap restaurant   
chain, like any sport's bar scattered across  
the United States. The lighting was low   
enough to feel intimate; The TV in the bar   
big enough to enjoy a game. Mulder imagined  
that in a different life, he might enjoy   
stopping by a place like this after work. He  
would sit down with his blue-collar posse and  
prognosticate the football season instead of   
the course of human history as made volatile  
by a colonizing force of aliens. 

When Scully looked up, her face was scrunched  
and suspicious. It had been a quiet day as they   
drove back up the coast from Florida. Both agents  
were unwilling to wait until officials dug the   
planes out from under a massive pile of junk at   
the airport. Driving would fulfill their mutual   
nagging need to get out of Arthur Dales' trailor.   
Scully had officially begun ignoring him after   
one particularly snide comment about her frizzy   
hair escaped him in a moment of frustration. He   
felt like the average man, blubbering in the   
presence of his superior wife, tongue-tied at his   
total inability to satisfy her. 

"Its a long time coming, but I know its personal."  
He paused, watching her reaction. He was flummoxed  
at him stoicism. "We have some catching up to do." 

In the soft amber light of their oversized booth,   
Mulder thought she mostly resembled a work of art.  
Da Vinci would have painted her in sepia tones,   
taking extra care of the way the shadows hit her  
brows and the undersides of her lip. She refused   
to look at him, and with her eyes downcast, he   
was instantly reminded of a marble statue of Mary.  
Arrogant enough to suggest that she was never so  
invested in his files as himself, he was also   
never comfortable enough to compliment her   
appearance. It occured to him that he'd pushed her  
into corners, become combative, begged, pleaded,   
and nearly kissed her - but never taken that first  
step a boy takes when he likes a girl: He'd never   
told her she was pretty. Now, caught between the   
surest of rocks and hardest of places, it seemed   
woefully inappropriate to make up for lost time. 

Scully cleared her throat, setting her hands down  
flat on the table. "A few weeks ago, you suggested  
that my irrational tendencies were weighing on my  
objectivity. That I was making things far more   
personal than they should be..."

When Mulder's brows lifted and he went to cut her   
off, he was met by only her wonderfully shadowed  
and quiet face. Instantly stilled, he waited for   
her to continue. 

"I was making things personal; This year, I lost my  
assignment, only to be told by my partner that I'm  
no longer trustworthy in his world. Shortly after   
that, I was shot in the line of duty. I know you  
still believe in Diana Fowley, regardless of her   
suspicious alliances. So, forgive me if I'm a little  
hurt after you told Arthur Dales that you don't need  
me, that I didn't help you, and then vented your   
frustration by telling me that I underwent a   
transformation from drowned rat to poodle in less   
than 18 hours and that we should investigate it as an  
X-File." Her voice never raised in volume. She only  
fixed him with her unwavering gaze, the power of   
her emotions wafting over the table to smack him in  
the face every couple seconds. 

Mulder nodded, his mind blank. He hadn't had a  
follow-up plan for his brilliant attempt at an apology.  
It hadn't occured to him that an apology might be   
unwanted. Didn't everyone like apologies?

Scully suddenly stood, and he was forced out of his   
stupor by the sight of her donning her coat in   
rapid fashion. "I'll get the check." 

Making her way to the cash register, her coat flapped  
behind her in the breezeless restaurant, now filling  
up with noisy patrons. 'Great', he thought. 'Even her   
coat's pissed at me...' Suddenly, he was reminded of   
an incident years ago, and his merciless teasing about  
her camel-colored coats of varying style. Something   
about how she'd always be ready for desert warfare.   
Perhaps the coat overheard?

By the time he made his way to the front of the   
restaurant, Scully was already on her way out the door.  
He widened his pace to catch up with her. She appeared  
disturbed at her lack of umbrella, flattening her hair  
self-consciously in the torrential downpour. Who the   
hell wanted to live in Florida? Did anyone here have a  
chance at a decent hairstyle?

"Scully." He called to her as she rounded the drivers'  
side of their rental vehicle. He was vaguely tickled at  
their disparity in height, her chin just barely   
clearing the roof of the compact Toyota. "I'm sorry. I  
think your hair is beautiful. Sometimes I'm just a   
bully with an ink well." 

He almost chuckled when he was met with a raised   
eyebrow and nothing more. Suddenly the rock seemed to   
be loosening up from that hard place he was attached  
to. 

 

\--------------------------------

The End

Send feedback, please!   
tess.moore.xf@gmail.com


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